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What’s new at Candid (May 2020)

It’s been awhile since I last updated you on what’s going on at Candid. Like you, we have been adjusting to life during a pandemic. All of Candid’s physical offices have been closed since Tuesday, March 17. Although working 100 percent virtually has required significant adjustments for some of us, overall, we’re fortunate here at Candid. We can do our work completely online, and many of us were already working remotely. Because we have offices and coworkers dispersed throughout the United States (and one in Abu Dhabi!), we were used to communicating through email, Slack, and Zoom. But there are so many added elements to juggle, like off-hours grocery shopping, kids, and grief that the nature of work has certainly changed. My colleagues and I have experienced profound shifts in how we work together, letting empathy lead, and we extend that heartfelt concern and understanding to you all as well.

We hope you are weathering this crisis. If you aren’t, please see the links in the first item in the “Highlights” section below. Although Candid doesn’t make grants, we have posted information on a wide range of resources to help organizations and individuals through this challenging time.

Highlights

Ongoing activities

  • Candid’s online librarians are providing concierge services to anyone who needs fundraising support and cannot otherwise access Foundation Directory Online (FDO) right now. Find answers or email the librarians.
  • As more and more places began lockdowns in March, we began converting our in-person trainings to online courses. Although we’ve offered webinars and on-demand trainings for years, some trainings, such as our Proposal Writing Bootcamp (see “Milestones” below), were always offered in person. Candid training staff had to do significant work to turn them into virtual courses. Find trainings on GrantSpace. Julieta Mendez and Chris Bunting also wrote a Candid Blog post listing several of Candid’s free, online resources for nonprofit professional development. Read the post.
  • To date, Philanthropy News Digest (PND) is tracking the public health crisis closely and has published 188 news items, 22 blog posts, four commentaries, and two Q&As related to the COVID-19 crisis. To learn more about the social sector’s response to the pandemic, visit PND.
  • The Candid Blog has published 29 posts—11 by Candid staff—related to the crisis. They include analyses of philanthropy’s response to the pandemic, historical perspectives on how funders responded to the Great Recession, and tips for coping with the current situation. Read the posts.

Milestones

  • On April 7, we published Candid’s first annual report! The report recounts not only what we did during our first year as an organization but also introduces many of the people who made everything happen. I hope you enjoy their insights and the peek behind the scenes. Learn more about and download our annual report. Note: on June 3, Candid president Brad Smith, board chair T. Sylvester John, and vice president for networks Zohra Zori will hold an open conversation on what’s next for Candid. Learn more and register today
  • On April 22, Chris Bunting, Dave Holmes, Tracy Kaufman, and Krista Berry Ortega kicked off our first-ever online Proposal Writing Bootcamp. The new virtual version was held over three weeks instead of three consecutive days, combined self-paced learning with live sessions on Zoom, and was attended by 50 people from across the country. Find more training on GrantSpace.
  • Also on April 22, we published “Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations.” Creating this publication took us through the first steps of combining classic Foundation Center and classic GuideStar data to create a Candid product. It offers at-a-glance information about the U.S. nonprofit sector. Check out “Key Facts on U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations.”
  • And on April 22, we added a bulk check feature to our Charity Check and Pro products. It allows annual and biennial subscribers to run a single report that verifies the eligibility status of all organizations in their watch lists. Watch for a Candid Blog post that talks about this improvement.
  • Candid was a promotional partner for #GivingTuesdayNow, observed globally on May 5 as, in GivingTuesday’s words, “an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.” We publicized the event through our social media platforms and two Candid Blog posts.
  • On May 5—to correspond with #GivingTuesdayNow—we also soft launched Power-of.org in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several other prominent platforms, including VolunteerMatch, DonorsChoose, and GivingTuesday. This platform connects people who want to make a difference with organizations addressing the impacts of Covid-19. Our coronavirus fund API is powering the platform’s “Give” section.

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